The awayWEB Virtual VPN
Architecture Overview
Cris Bailiff, CTO /dev/secure
c.bailiff@awayweb.com
http://www.awayweb.com
Satisfying the user demand for remote access to corporate information
is a continual headache for IT managers. With the wide availability
of ISP connectivity and services organisations wishing to move forward
from the traditional legacy approach of dialup communications can
leverage Internet based technology standardised on TCP/IP solutions.
Most organisations now view Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology
as the preferred solution to utilise this low cost, widely available
infrastructure.
VPNs allow computer communications across these open, public, network
infrastructures, using reliable, and proven encryption technologies.
This ensures that all communications across these public networks
remain private and confidential.
Whilst the principles of VPN solutions are widely understood, the
reality is that designing, procuring, implementing and deploying a
secure, robust VPN based solution can be a complex, slow and expensive
process. Conventional VPN software must be deployed and maintained
on every client machine. Corporate firewalls and other infrastructure
may be incompatible with the installed system. The results may not
realise the promised return on invested time and capital.
Just like a traditional VPN the awayWEB system offers secure remote
access over the Internet, but without the problems of deploying client
software and then making the VPN operate within the existing infrastructure.
The awayWEB approach is to provide secured access to internal resources
by leveraging the power of already installed commodity infrastructure
- the standard web browser.